Yankees reveal 4-pitcher reason for not making more pitching trades

The New York Yankees have been active in the MLB trade deadline hitter market. They've already swung deals for Ryan McMahon, Amed Rosario and Austin Slater.

But on the pitching side? Not so much, and there are reasons.

The first, written on X on Thursday by MLB.com's Bryan Hoch, is that the "Yankees have been hesitant to meet the asking prices on the relief market."

For example, Athletics closer Mason Miller was just dealt to the Padres for the on-paper biggest return a relief pitcher has ever netted in a trade.

The Yankees have another quartet of reasons they might not mind standing pat, though.

Their names are Luis Gil, Mark Leiter Jr., Fernando Cruz and Ryan Yarbrough.

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All four are making their way back from injury. All four are expected back sooner rather than later.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Thursday that those "hopefully are big deals for us."

There is some real merit to that line of thinking. There are only so many spots available on a pitching staff.

If the Yankees were to acquire a bunch of new relievers, then get all their other pitchers back from injury, there could be a real logjam.

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Obviously, New York shouldn't pass on a pitcher just because it could get crowded. If the price is right, the price is right.

But if the price isn't right, the Yankees have reason to believe they'll be OK. It's been a rough season for pitching injuries in the Bronx, but if the Yanks' luck is better the rest of the way, they'll have a deep enough staff to make noise in the postseason, and that's even without making a bunch of trades before the deadline.

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